Cabin

Our beautiful cabin at Ashley Lake, Montana.

My mom officially believes now that I have grown out of my “touchy baby” stage and have moved on to “textbook baby” or even “angel baby”. I am such a good boy and only really cry when I obviously need something. I am usually sleeping 10 hours a night with one feeding and take 3-4 naps a day (I still sleep a lot). Mom is thrilled about this because she thinks it is only up hill from here. I continue to talk a lot and suck on my fist. I am even starting to realize what my hands are doing and touching. Mom loves watching me discover new things. Mom is working on getting pictures of me smiling and giggling. We will post them as soon as we can coordinate.
It has been raining non stop here in Alameda so mom and I are getting a little stir crazy. However mom was reminded that she could be living in places that have snow (Utah or Canada or Montana) and realized she is being spoiled here in California. It is supposed to rain until February but we will try and have a better attitude.
Now that Uncle Matthew and Auntie Crystal sent us all the pictures they took from New Years, we posted some above. We also posted the shots that Auntie Crystal took of mommy and me. They look so professional and we give a shout out to Auntie Crystal for doing such a good job (despite the fact that she made me take all my clothes off for them.

Cousins: Houston and Ryan

This is a picture of me and my cousin Ryan. He was born 11 days before me. Aren't we cute?

Firsts

Last weekend I was finally able to meet my new cousin, Troy. He is a very fun, affectionate boy and I think he will be a great addition to the family. He loves Iron Man, Transformers, dogs named bumblebee, super heroes and cars (as far as I know). He is manliest boy I know. He got along with everyone great and hopes to come back to Grandma’s soon to play more.
Monday was very exciting because I was able to go to my first Hockey game. It wasn’t just any hockey game though, it was a NHL game! San Jose Sharks verses the Calgary Flames. In honor of my half Canadian blood, mom dressed me in my Team Canada jersey and everyone that saw me thought I was so cute. Mom was prepared to tell anyone that gave us a dirty look that many (4) of the San Jose players are set to play on the Canadian Olympic team. Unfortunately the Flames were embarrassed and lost 9-1. For the only goal that Calgary scored mom gave out a loud yelp and everyone around looked at her funny. Even though she was more and more sad with every Sharks goal, she let me jump and dance to the song they played after each goal (dun dun dun dun dun HEY! dun dun dun dun).
Some more good news is that Daddy started his job. He leaves really early even before I wake up in order to miss rush hour and work out at a gym. I miss him during the day but love to spend time with him at night. He usually gets home just in time to put me down for my evening nap. I continue to talk, smile and giggle more and more. One time I was talking so much mommy let me answer the phone when Dad called. He thought it was a pretty nice surprise.

Big News

Now that we are back in once place for a little while, mom is putting me back into routines. Putting me down for naps is not as much of a chore anymore for mom unless I get over tired. She watches me very closely and as soon as I start showing sings for fatigue, she calms me down and I fall asleep. It is also becoming more normal for me to sleep 5-6 hours when I first go to bed, wake for a feeding and then sleep another 3-4 hours before waking up for the day. Mom loves this because she doesn’t feel like a zombie in the morning. In order for mom to get back into shape she is taking me on long walks along the water. It gets a little windy but for the most part I don’t mind the time outside. Mom has had a really bad cold these past few days so we haven’t been able to go out as much. I hope she gets better soon!
I have lots of great news this week! First, I have started to giggle and mom and dad are thrilled. The first time I did it, the three of us were on the couch and dad was playing with me. He kept saying me name in a high pitched voice and touching my nose. It wasn't long before I giggled a few times for him. The second time I did it was for mom. She had just put me in my bath water and was splashing water on me. I giggled for almost 10 seconds straight! I am just the cutest thing ever!
But the best news of all is that I have a new cousin!! Auntie Andi and Uncle Adam just found out last week that they could adopt a 4 year old boy named Troy. He has been in foster care since he was 18 months old but was able to join their family and give Marin and younger brother on Friday. We are all overjoyed and can’t wait to meet him. I think it will be great to have another older boy cousin to show Ryan and I the ropes.

New Years

Over the holidays, I heard mom talk about this place called Ashley Lake and a cabin that existed there. Over New Years I was able to actually go there for the first time! To get there I also flew for the first time. The day was long because we flew first from Oakland to Seattle and then Seattle to Kalispel, MT. Mom was worried that the change in air pressure would cause me discomfort but I was a perfect angel almost the whole time. Ashley Lake was amazing! Grandma and Grandpa Schlenker along with Great Grandma and Grandpa Campbell were so excited to see me again and I finally got to meet more uncles, aunties and cousins. I learned to recognize Uncle Matt’s voice quickly because he talks a lot. He also always had a camera in his hand and I felt like I was in a photo shoot most of the day (Matt just got a bran new fancy shmancy camera). I learned to recognize Auntie Crystal more by her cute laugh. Their son Wyatt is quite a guy. He was so smiley and a fast crawler. I hope I can crawl that fast. He was quite fascinated by me and whenever mom held me near Wyatt he would drop what ever he was playing with and come gently touch my hands and feet. Wyatt is 1 year old. Uncle Derek was also there when we arrived but I don’t know his voice very well because it was always changing. When he did speak English he often spoke with funny accents and other times he spoke another language I didn’t recognize. The day after we got there Uncle Mark, Auntie Laurel and cousins Ashton and Nick arrived. Uncle Mark also talks a lot and is really funny. Mom laughs at him a lot. Auntie Laurel is so sweet and liked holding me. I heard mom describe her as “super mom” because at one point she babysat all 5 boys and made pizza while everyone else was outside. Ashton and Nick were so fun. Many seemed to think there was some sort of magnet attached to me and Ashton and then from Ashton to Nick because where ever I went, Ashton and then Nick were sure to come also. Ashton, who is 3, knew me as “Baby Houston” and loved to “pet” me. Nick, who is 19 months old, referred to me as “baby” and liked to point at me and poke at my eyes. I think we are all going to be great friends!
Early in the week there was not much snow. That soon changed as the week went on. The coolest part about the lake was that it was frozen. The adults played hockey, pulled tubes and snowboards behind the quads and went ice fishing. The temperature was perfect and mom was able to take me outside quite a bit in my warm snow suite. It was still nice, however to come back to the warm cabin and kick my legs on the floor, couch or table while people played with me. The night before New Year’s Eve, I was able to meet some of Mom’s cousins on the Schlenker side. Uncle Garth and Aunt Kim brought their 2 kids, Keira and Nate and we all played Bingo. We also played Bingo on New Years day with our neighbors, the Wallaces. Bingo is grandma Schlenker’s new thing. It is fun but we were pretty Bingoed out after two nights of it.
One last highlight I want to share was something Grandpa Schlenker had been looking forward to for a long time. He had specially ordered Team Canada hockey jerseys for all of his grandsons. One morning before everyone’s naps, we put them on a got some great pictures. I will make sure mom posts all of the pictures from the lake as soon as Uncle Matt sends them. (BTW, Team Canada had a disappointing loss to the USA hockey team in the World Junior Championships… sad day for mom).

Christmas: Soon after we arrived and unpacked in Alameda, the family started to come to also stay at Grandma and Grandpa Wilcock’s house. I liked this because there was a lot of people to hold me and I got to sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s room. One person I was very excited to spend time with is my cousin Ryan. He is only 11 days older than me so I knew we would be good friends. He was supposed to be a month older than me but between his delivery being late and mine being very early, I am quite a bit behind him developmentally. Things that I am still working on that he is pro at is holding his head up without assistance, smiling a lot, giggling and being awake more often. I’ll catch up sooner or later. I change so much every week.
One of my favorite nights so far of the holidays was the variety show the family put on. Almost everyone participated. My favorite next to my mom and dad’s skit was auntie Anne’s rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas (though you wouldn’t guess since I slept through the whole thing). For the skit, uncle Tim and Dad pretended they were me and Ryan 5 years from now. What made it really funny was that mom and Auntie Lora were their arms but couldn’t see what they were doing. Everyone laughed really hard. After the show, almost everyone went to the new movie Avatar while Auntie Anne babysat me. I was such a good boy and slept almost the entire time. Mom enjoyed the movie but rushed home to be with me because she missed me a lot.
After that night I was introduced to the Wilcock family traditions at Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at Great Grandma and Grandpa Coopers and had treats with potato soup. Christmas morning was spent in grandma and grandpa’s living room opening gifts. I got lots of cool stuff like DVDs clothes, books and toys. But once again I slept through the whole thing. Then everyone came over for breakfast burritos and games. That night we headed over to the Vastola’s for more games and a delicious meal.
Daddy was very fortunate after Christmas because he got to go to 3 professional sporting events 3 days in a row. First was a NHL Sharks game verses the Anaheim Ducks. They are big rivals so there were lots of fights. Mom got to go to this too and she had such a blast. Grandma Wilcock babysat me and things went alright. I cried so much after she fed me what mommy pumped for me Grandma went out and bought some formula. After about an ounce I was asleep. I am sort of a weirdo sometimes. The next day a bunch of the family went to a 49’s game. Mommy stayed home with me for this because she didn’t want to be away from me for that long. The night after daddy went to another Sharks game with Grandma. With all of this, Dad was in Heaven.